FAQs about water softeners

HardAss Water ConditioningFAQs

Listed here are the top ten questions that we are asked constantly. They are mainly about water softeners because that's the one piece of water treatment equipment that everyone has or wants. In North Florida whether you have city or well water, hard water prevails. These questions are more of a general nature. For answers to more technical questions, please email your question and equipment information (type, make, and etc.) if possible here. It doesn't matter if you're not in our service area. If you have a question about water treatment, ask it. Don't let your question go unanswered, all E-mails are generally replied to within 24hrs, just click on the link below.

*All E-mail addresses obtained from E-mailed inquiries will be used by HardAss Water Conditioning exclusively and will not be shared nor sold, to anyone or any entity at any time.

Common Sales Tactics Exposed!

are just below the FAQs!

TM

#1 Why is hard water a problem and are water softeners worth it?

You know how the inside of your dishwasher gets "caked" white or how all of your faucets get that green/white corrosion around them. Maybe you've noticed the water spots all over everything or the fact you can pour a half of a bottle of soap into a sinkful of water and come up with three bubbles. All of that is caused by hard water. Unfortunately, worse than the things you notice are the things you don't. The closing up and deterioration of copper and galvanized pipes, and damage to the interior of your water heater. Also worth mentioning, are the problems of it drying skin and hair, which is why soft water helps with skin problems such as Eczema. Now that your all scared, I'll tell you no one has ever died from not having soft water. It's just costly and annoying.

Basically having a water softener is alot easier, less time consuming, and less expensive than replacing, repairing, and cleaning everything in your house damaged by hard water.

#2 How much should I spend on a water softener?

It's more about finding out what you need and want in a softener, and then finding the best price for what you need. Please check the water softener info page for softeners available from us, as well as "store bought" softeners. When shopping for a softener you'll hear alot about grain capacities. Basically the higher the grain capacity is, the more water it can soften before it needs to regenerate (clean itself). So if you use alot of water buying a larger grain softener will save you water, salt, and "wear and tear" on the valve. Buy appropriate, don't under-do it but don't go overboard. There's no reason to spend $3000 or more on a residential water softener!

#3 Does a water softener do anything for tastes or odors?

No, for the most part. A normal softener does not do anything for foul tastes or odors in your water. There are some softeners that do have carbon in them (with the resin) that boast "total cleaning" but that doesn't really work as well. Resin (the stuff that actually "softens" the water) can last sometimes 15-20 years where carbon (taste and odor reduction) is only going to last at max 3-5 yrs well short of the resin life span. Since they're mixed together inside the resin tank you'll either be without taste and odor reduction after that, or you have to pay a good price to have all of the carbon replaced. The best thing to do is buy a normal softener and install a good size carbon filter in line with your softener. That way you get the full life span out of your softener, control tastes and odors , and the additional benefit of sediment removal which is something a mix tank doesn't do.

#4 How does a water softener work?

It's an ion exchange process but I'll make this as non-technical as possible. Basically all of your water runs into the softener and through the resin tank (not the salt) and the resin removes (filters) calcium, lime, etc as the water passes through it and moves into your house. The calcium, lime, etc. is collected by the resin and when it has "softened" all of the water it can, it regenerates. Salt is like soap for a softener. During the regeneration process the softener will take the salt/water mixture (brine) and use it to clean the resin in the tank and discharges all salt and "hardness" down the drain. You do not drink the salt!!! That is a very common misconception about softeners. In 8 glasses of straight tap water you may have about as much salt a 2 slices of bread.

#5 What type of salt should I use?

The one that's on sale! Generally, unless you have a 2 tank system (seperate salt tank) do not use salt blocks, but any bag of salt is fine. Potassium (salt substitute) is unnecessary, more expensive and less efficent. Some people prefer pellets and some crystals, use whatever you like best. Remember salt is like soap for a softener and any bag of salt is at least 98 or 99 percent pure salt.

#6 How do I prevent salt bridging?

Very easy, don't overfill your softener. You should only fill your softener half way to three quarters full. Humidity in the air hardens the salt sometimes not allowing it to drop forming a "hole" underneath making it so the water can't reach it. If you don't overfill your softener the air doesn't have as much time to harden your salt and there's alot less salt to harden.

#7 How does a water softener know when to regenerate (clean itself)?

It depends on the programming of the softener. Alot of the older systems and some current ones go by days. Basically you program these to go every other day or every third day. This method is really unefficient though since it cleans itself whether it needs to or not. Also, if for some reason you use alot more water than usual, you may exceed the capacity and it will not clean itself untill the programmed day. Most softeners today "count" your gallons of water and regenerate based on usage saving salt and water. As water runs through it, a turbine assembly in the outgoing side of the softener "tells" the controls how much water is being used and the controls figure out when it needs to regenerate based on water hardness and capacity.

#8 Do I need someone to come out and test my water?

Unless you are on a well, no. City water (speaking about my area of service: Northeast Florida) will be anywhere from 15-30 grains hard, free of Iron, and alot of other typical things found in well water. Which basically means if you live in North Florida and have city water, you have hard water and in some cases/areas extra fitration to remove Chlorine, sediment, etc may be a good idea. You don't need a water test to tell you that. The "Free Water Test" is generally a marketing scam to get a salesperson into your house. With well water however, you should have your water tested (not by a salesman) only to see what equipment you may need. Well water may contain heavy amounts of Iron, Hydrogen Sulfide, and other problems not found in city water that may require more than just a softener or carbon filtration.

#9 What do you know about salt-free water softeners/conditioners?

They are a fraud. They cost more than softeners and they don't do the job that is claimed by the people selling them. Their claims are "softens water without using salt or electricity" are inaccurate. They "de-scale" the water meaning they do not remove the hardness from the water or give you any of the benifits of actually having soft water. When they say "it softens water without giving you that slippery feeling", it really means it doesn't actually soften the water (remove the hardness) which is why you don't get the slippery feeling. For more information about the science behind the claims of obscure water products, check out this site which is run by chemist Stephen Lower: http://www.chem1.com/CQ/gallery.html

#10 Do I need to change the salt in my water softener?

No, you should never need to clean out the salt tank. If it's got a "dirty" look to it (black color staining), that's normal. If your softener is not using salt (and it's not bridged), it's because the softener is malfunctioning and needs to be serviced. It may be as simple as cleaning a screen or a part replacement.

Common Tactics Exposed!

Through many years in this business we've seen many different sales tactics used to sell water conditioning. We say this because most dealers sell softeners like used cars or time-shares. Here we're going to let you in on a few in case you run into them. Some of this info is also in other places in this site, but here it's a quick reference.

This one is listed before #1 because it's particularly dirty and we know for a fact it's happening in Jacksonville right now!

I'll explain what the scheme is and then I'll tell you why I know it's a fact. There are companies that are going door-to-door or calling around claiming to be either "Water quality testers for the city", "independent water quality analyst doing research in the area", or a few other official sounding titles that they are using to get their foot in the door and work you over in attempts to convince you to buy a system.

First, a group of individuals going door-to-door claiming to be water testers for the city went to a good friend's house and tried to pull this off on him. Since he's known me for years and we of course talk, he recognized what was actually going on and sent him on his way. The city does not send people door-to-door checking water quality.

Second, I personally got a phone call from someone claiming to represent an independent water quality analyzing firm that was going to be in the area and specifically asked when me and my wife would be available to meet with them to check our water quality. After laughing a bit I then asked what water treatment company they were running calls for. She then repeated the name of the "independent company". I then told her I "worked for" a water conditioning company and she quickly thanked me and hung up.

This is happening everyday and for the people who don't know better, they get a very interesting and expensive sales experience to say the least. Any company who needs to trick you to get into your house and sell to you is probably a company you shouldn't do business with (my personal opinion).

#1 "Free Water Test" is by far the most used gimmick around. It does however tend to work better than the honest version of "Would you like a sales person to come to your home for some face to face pressure selling".

#2 They will never advertise any prices!Not advertising their prices serves a few purposes. You have to contact them in order to shop and they want that contact time to sell it to you. If they listed their price, you may not call them. Also you can't get the most money possible per customer if you have fixed posted prices.

#3 Really low "starting at" price. Try seeing what they are selling at that price. It's either going to be very small or very used. If you want a new normal softener, strangely enough that will be a little more. If you can actually find a better end price (total price paid) than ours on equally sized and brand new equipment, let us know because we're obviously doing something wrong.

#4 Customer comments and reviews on their web-site. They look great and make you feel like that company could be the best in the world. Sometimes they do look real and then sometimes you can catch the marketing tag-lines in them, but can you really trust the comments on a company's own site? Let's experiment:

Those guys from HardAss Water are the best. I got a system from them two weeks ago and already my love life is better, my hair grew back, my dog Rex came back to life, and everyone in the house is 3 inches taller. They were so good and fast that I never saw the work being done. I just blinked and it was there installed perfectly. They even took a few minutes to do some odd chores around the house that I haven't gotten to. The best company in the world!

Sincerely,

Ran Dom Guy

Jacksonville, Florida

So, since it's here did you believe it? Didn't think so. We've been asked multiple times why there are no testimonials on this web-site and this is the official response:

Because we can't find an honest way to do it. If we could find a way that a customer could put in their own comments without any control from us and without having to sign up for something, we would do it. There are places that we are listed that if you belong to certain groups (Yahoo, Angies List , etc.) you could leave a review, but we don't put comments on our site for the simple reason as: "Our site's wording and content is in our total control which would (in our opinion) challenge the validity of testimonials and statements if we were to provide them".

#5 Companies that require all deciding parties to be present. Somewhat self-explanitory but they do this on "sales call" estimates as to not give you the option of saying " I have to talk it over with _____ first, so I can't decide today." A real no-pressure estimate only needs one person present (if that at times) who can answer basic simple questions. There is a difference between a quick cost estimate and a sales presentation call, and required participation usually means the latter.

#6 "Softens water without using salt" This one bugs us a lot because unless it's reffering to a normal water softener using a salt substitute, it's a blatent lie. There are a lot of different "no-salt water softeners" out there, but the problem is not one of them actually soften the water. To quote an article I read and can no longer find "there are alternatives to having soft water but there are no alternatives for a water softener".

#7 The Lifetime warranty. Without ruining the fun for you, the term "lifetime warranty" is to make you feel good. The next time you hear "lifetime warranty", ask exactly what that means in terms of time length and covered costs. Then, compare it to our coverage: 5 years on everything from the first pipe fitting to the last including labor and trip charges ( also a 10 year parts warranty on the tanks themselves). Anything happens during the warrantied period (not including customer caused damage), there is no costs to you for repair at all.

Resin Crosslink percentage explained!

....in the simplest and shortest way possible!

Resin is basically made with two parts. The functional part and the "crosslink" part which holds the resin together and protects it from oxidizers. In some areas where chlorination is rare, a six percent crosslink is generally used because the kinetic functionality and operating capacity does not have to be compromised to protect the resin from chlorine (oxidizers). Typically an eight percent crosslink resin is used on chlorinated municipal water in the U.S. to preserve the balance between functionality and strength. Larger crosslink percentages such as 16%, while being more resistant to oxiders, could result in lower operating capacities and less effective regeneration cycles. Higher cross linked resin is denser and a little harder for the salt to "clean" properly. The ion exchange process favors lower crosslinking. Also, due to that density and the kinetics of colder water, higher crosslink users may experience a hard water bleed-through do to the lowered absorbtion rate of the higher crosslinked resin. This is why higher crosslinked resin is typically only used in situations where there's a high chlorine (oxidizer) content to the water being conditioned.

Why do I need to know about crosslinking and how is the BB Filter involved?

While 8% crosslinking is the better balance between resin strength and functionality for municipal water supplies, some companies will primarily use higher percentage resins whether there's a high oxidizer content or not. This is not for consumer benefit like they would have you believe. This is more as a marketing ploy to declare they have a "superior system" which can win over hesitant customers, and to justify highly marked up consumer costs. Realistically, however, unless you're trying to soften water with a chlorine content of over 1ppm without first removing the chlorine via a "BB Filter system" or other carbon filtration means, higher crosslinking is an unnecassary loss in functionality. This is why we use carbon filtration where high chlorine amounts are present versus sacrificing the balance of strength and functionality that 8% crosslinking provides. While higher crosslinked resin has it's uses, being used in an incorrect situation or as a shady sales tactic are not some of those intended uses.